From LoveToKnow 1911

SCREEN (usually, but very doubtfully, connected
with Lat. scrinium, a box
for holding books, from scribere, to write; a connexion
with Ger. Schranke, barrier, has been suggested), in architecture, any
construction subdividing one part of a building from another - as a
choir, chantry, chapel, &c. The earliest screens are the low
marblepodia,
shutting off the chorus
cantantium in the Roman basilicas, and the perforated cancelli enclosing the
bema, altar, and seats of the bishops and presbyters. The chief screens in a
church are those which enclose the choir or the place where the breviary services are
recited. This is done on the continent of Europe, not only by doors and screen-work, but
also, when these are of open work, by curtains, the laity having no
part in these services. In England screens were of two kinds: one of open
woodwork; the other, massive enclosures of stonework enriched with
niches, tabernacles, canopies, pinnacles, statues, crestings,
&c., as at Canterbury, York, Gloucester, and many other
places both in England and abroad (see Rood and JUBfi) .

As an article of furniture, the screen is an ornamental frame,
usually of wood, but sometimes of metal, for protection from observation, draught, or the heat of a fire.
Screens are made of all shapes and sizes, and may consist of leather, paper or textile
materials fastened to the framework; they may have several leaves
or only one - thus a fourfold screen has four leaves. Firescreens
are usually small, with a single leaf - indeed in the Georgian period of English
furniture they often took the form of a circular, oval, heart-shaped or oblong piece of framed embroidery fixed to a
wooden pole or upright, upon which they
could be raised or lowered. This variety, which was called a
pole-screen, was more effective as an ornament than as a protection. The hand-screen
was light and portable, as the name implies. At the present time
fire-screens are often of glass
set in metal frames. The larger type of screen, with several
leaves, is of uncertain origin, but probably first came into use
towards the end of the 16th century. The earlier examples were of
stamped or painted Spanish leather or of some rich stuff such as tapestry; at a later date lacquer was extensively used.
They were tall enough to conceal the person sitting behind them,
and were frequently exceedingly handsome and stately.